Punk Padel and Tough Mudder: It pays for sports to buy into fun innovation October 30, 2025 I am happy to go down any rabbit hole, or country lane, in search of innovation in sport. Driving back from a trail race the other day, I passed a small sign tucked on a grassy verge in deepest Sussex. “Punk Padel”, it seemed to whisper rather than shout, as if conscious it was out [...]
In defence of sport’s blazers: Give them scrutiny, yes, but also empathy October 23, 2025 Spend a minute on social media during a major sporting event and you’ll find them: the keyboard warriors, the armchair pundits, the self-appointed arbiters of “what the fans really want”. Their target? The blazers in the boardroom perceived to be truffling for perks and who wouldn’t know how to find the nearest grassroots facility. While [...]
Here’s what the NFL can teach football about global expansion October 16, 2025 It had taken me 18 years and 40 missed opportunities in London before I got round to seeing my first NFL game in the flesh on Sunday: an attritional contest edged by the Denver Broncos at a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that looked for all intents and purposes as though it had been flown from [...]
My dozen questions to get inside the minds of English cricket fans October 9, 2025 An invitation from the England and Wales Cricket Board arrives, forwarded by Middlesex Cricket. A survey no less, and one with a laudable aim – to find out what it would take to entice the respondent to take up or extend membership of their favoured cricket county. It starts with questions about age, gender and [...]
Capitulation clearing Russia and Putin’s path to LA 2028 Olympics October 2, 2025 Vladimir Putin’s path to Los Angeles 2028 is being cleared, his war on Ukraine becoming normalised in the minds of the world’s sports administrators. Last week’s votes by the International Paralympic Committee to readmit Russia and Belarus are, to my mind, a shameful capitulation and represent a triumph for the warmonger. All eyes now on [...]
Why Ryder Cup is commercial gold and other sports have failed to copy it September 25, 2025 If the Ryder Cup didn’t exist, could you create it today? After all, this is an event that bends an individual sport into a collective enterprise, is rarely won by the away team, and hasn’t produced a close contest for 13 years. It also sees a roster of golfers playing for love pitted against another [...]
Ben Proud’s Enhanced Games switch puts pressure IOC to use its $5bn September 18, 2025 Rather than wondering why Ben Proud would sign up for the Enhanced Games, it is better to ask why he wouldn’t. The British swimmer’s commitment to the competition with an “anything goes” attitude to performance-enhancing drugs is a wake-up call for the Olympic movement. Money, as ever, lies at the heart of the matter. Proud [...]
Tokyo has another bite at athletics cherry – will fandom blossom? September 11, 2025 If you’re an athletics fan, time to perfect your “work from home” excuses as the World Championships begin in Tokyo tomorrow. If you live west of Japan, that spells disrupted sleep patterns and unproductive days as medals are won in Tokyo nights. These Championships are part reward for a local populace twice denied the chance [...]
Are franchise IPOs the end game for The Hundred’s £1bn investors? August 28, 2025 Have The Hundred’s investors figured out yet how they will make a return? Look out for minority stake sales and maybe even listings in India, says Ed Warner. Never make an investment without having a plan on how to sell it. Illiquidity can scupper the most enticing of propositions. The very best portfolio managers, especially [...]
RFU backing of Red Roses can aid better English pro structure August 21, 2025 So it begins. Red Roses vs USA at the Stadium of Light. Friday night, BBC 1. That’s a USA fielding the rugby player with by far the biggest social media following on the planet, Ilona Maher. You won’t find a hotter ticket this year than the Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on 27 [...]
